Nextgov

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the federal agency that is leading efforts to digitize health records, gets a vote of no confidence from hospital IT executives for its role in developing health information exchanges.

More than 60 percent of hospital chief information officers responding to a one-day "snap survey" by HealthsystemCIO.com described the jumble of local, state, regional and national initiatives as a "confused mess," according to the website. More than nine of 10 respondents said those initiatives are duplicating efforts.

The CIOs overwhelmingly blame the ONC. None of the respondents characterized the agency's leadership on the information exchanges as "very good," and just 3.8 percent termed it "good." For nearly half, the response was "not so good."

Even so, close to 70 percent said they intend to exchange patient information with a competing health system. "This is the best for patient care and [it] only makes sense to participate," one respondent said.

Health information exchanges are key to the success of the federal government's health IT initiatives. They will enable sharing of digital patient records among doctors' offices, hospitals and other providers, but they're being set up differently in every state and region.

More than 60 percent of survey respondents said technical standards for the exchanges are either ready or will be within two years, but several noted in comments that other issues remain unresolved.